Loop cutter for multiple shuttle looms



Oct. 30, 1951 H. E. LITTLEJOHN 1.001D CUTTER FOR MULTIPLE SHUTTLE Looms 5 Sheets-Sheerl l Filed OCL. 6, 1950 ....o M n .ab M ww E Sv r, ,\W .Sw m L wb n 0 W w m E fm SUMME d. M W A w n HH :fu H y vufzze'ys Oct. 3o, 1951 H. E. LITTLEJOHN LOOP CUTTER FOR MULTIPLE SHUTTLE LOOMS Filed Oct. 6, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Oct. 30, v1951 UNITED VSTAT i I lLooP CUTTER Fon LooM Henry E. Littlejohn, Greenville,l S. C., assignoi` to J. P. Stevensv & Co.; Inc., Greenville, S. C., a4

corporation of Delaware j! I i Y Application October 6, 1950, Serial No. 188,713

v y This'inventio'n is concernedwith'the'pr'ovision of means for cutting selvage loops formed during the weaving of cloth' on looms having "shifting y shuttleboxes in which one or more shuttles lis 4out ol' action for an appreciable number of picks.

In the weavingv of cross bar fabrics utilizing multiple shuttle'looms, in which the bc'ixesY holdying the inactive shuttles are'shifted vertically to 'positions above or below the lay, a loop of filling formed along'the selvage extending from the last pick of the bar form-ed bythe lling of one .'shuttle'to the first pick at the beginning of the next bar formed'by the'lling of the same shuttle. These selvage loops if of noticeable length mustbe removed-to make the fabric salable. It is dimcult, if not impossible, to remove 'them by singeing, and it. is laborious and expensive lto 'remove them by hand.A

The present inventionlprovides' means acting automaticallyy during thel weaving operation lby which such long loops are cut or severedso that the'resulting free ends may thereafter be more readily cut 01T close toA the selvage. fx The present invention is designed to function .whether vthe outi-of-action shuttle has been f dropped below the lay or raised above the 4lay during' its period of inaction. .The fdevfic'e! of .the invention has no moving parts and will func.- tion for an indeinite period without attention.

The invention will 'be more particularly described with the aid ofthe accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a fragmentary section ofL warp and cloth during the weaving process showing a portion-of the breast beam and 'a tem.- ple to which the loop cutter is aliixed. y

Fig. 2 is: al side elevation looking from the right of Fig. l, showing in addition the lay, reed and shuttle boxes. Fig. 3 shows, the position of thelll'ing of" the inactivel shuttle afterweaving-has proceeded 4a short distance beyond` the position shown inFig. i when the inac-tivelshuttle first went out of action.

Fig. 4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 3 with the lling of the inactive'- shuttle A,whi'ch'will subsequentlyform a longselvage loop, having moved to a position Where it is caught by the loop cutter..v

Fig. 'jshows the, first pick' laid; by the previously inactive shuttle after the shuttle hasgone back into action with the selvage loo-p caught by the cutter. jj l Fie. 6 is similar to Eig. aafter. additional picks 4 Claims. (Cl. 139--266) `have been laid with the looptightening' on the cutter bar just prior to severance.

Fig. 7 is a front elevation showing the loop cutterA attached to the face of the temple and its general relation tothe cloth.

Fig. 8 isan elevation looking from the left o nig. 9 a vertica1 section on the une 9 9 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 10 is a vertical section on the line Ill- I0 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 11 is a front elevation of the body of the loop cutter with the cutterbar removed, the' cutter lbar position being indicated in dotted lines.

Fig. 12 -is a plan view of the cutter bar removed from the body.

Referring to Fig. 1 there is shown a plan view of a portion of a loom with a fragmentaryv section oi the cloth as it is being woven. The breast beam 2 supportsin the usual manner a temple standard 4 having the usual. shank 6Y and temple 8. These parts are conventional and constitute no part of the invention in themselves. The selvage loop cutter however which comprises the invention is attached to and cooperates with the temple to out the selvage loops that are succes sively formed.

The Woven cloth I0 which. is moving through the loom in the direction of` the arrow has had its last pickA laid at the position l2 to which point it has been beaten up by the reed. The Warp is indicated at I4. Further details of the construction of Fig. l are shown in Fig. 2 in which it can be seen that the templeis of conventional construction with the. cloth arranged to run over the two gripping rollers l 6 and I8 which hold the cloth at full. width for a limited distance beyond the weaving, point. In Fig'. 2 is shown additionally the lay 2-0, the reed 22, and the shuttles and shuttle boxes are indicated at 24, 26 and 28. The active shuttle is. at 26 while. the inactive shuttles are at 24 and 28.

Let us assume that the,l shuttle that is now in box- 24 laid its last pick at l2, as viewed 'In Fig. 1. This pick has been beaten up and shuttle 26 is now in action, weaving the clcthabove the pick l2. That part of pick I2 that: extends from the selvage to the inactive shuttle inbox 24 is indicated in Fig... 1 atA 310 which position the yarn will assume; when the lay'is forward, and at 30" which indicates; the position the: yarn will assume' when the lay4 is at.l its rear position. As the shuttle boxes move forward and backward with the las'. thel yarn or the; inactive shuttle will swing forward vand backward between positions. 30 and 3m and the pick I2 now in the cloth moves toward` the temple 8. In so doing, the inactive lling indicated at 38 and 30 is carried along` toward and through the temple and in due course cornes into contact with the loop cutter indicated gen' Verally in the drawings at 34 and which is attached to the vertical face of the temple.

The loop cutter, which will now be described, has its effective edges in the form of a V which istraddles the. selvage, with the mainportion of the body above and partly'over the .clothand 'with an extension carrying the cutter bar or ele- Iment extending a short distance'under the cloth. It will be undersood that the loop cutter-is lo- Y'catedv on the temple that is at the side of the loom containing the vertically movable .shuttle boxesandit is at that Yside offthe cloth that the selvage loops that must be cut are formed.

The loop cutter comprises ra body memberVV 36 having at its lower portion a laterally ,extending 'extension 38 .which extension' carries a cutting -element.40. The configurationof the upper por- .'tion' of the body member 36 is of noparticular 'signicance other. than that it should .be shaped for application to the temple.V However, the downwardlyfacing` threadA directing edge 42 fwh'ich overhangs the edge of the cloth is of im- 'portance as it is this edge whchdirects the inactive filling to a `position where it will be sub'- -sequently caught and severed bythe cutting ele- #ment 48. The body member 36 is affixed to the yface of the temple by screws 44 passing through slots 46 which provide for vertical adjustment.

It will be noticed that the thread directing -edge 42 terminates at an apex 48 at which point it meets with reversely turned edge-58 constituting part of the top edge of the extension 38. The outer endA of vextension 38 has affixed to its raised "upper surface the cutting element 40 by means of suitable screws 52. The nature of the cutting element itself can be seen in the succession of fviews in Figs. 8, 9, and 12. The left hand'end `as viewed in Fig. V8 is of sufficient size to be read- 'ily anchored to the topof extension 38. In Fig. v9, taken on the section 9-9 of Fig. '7, it can be seen that the cuttingrelement has its right side formed to present a cutting edge 54 and is at this position spaced upwardly from the Y reversely turned edge 50 whereby a thread may pass freely therebetween. The free'end of the cutting element indicated at 56 narrows down and is spaced from the thread directingv edge 42 at the point where the two parts pass by a relatively small distance. This distance is however sufficient to permit a filling thread such as 38, '38' to pass betweenI the parts but once the thread has passed below the Vend 56 of the cutting element there vis little likelihood of its escaping Yfrom this position. The cutting element perse'removed from the extension 38 is shown in plan in Fig. 12. With the construction of the loop cutter now in mind, the sequence of events disclosed in Figs. 3 to 6 may be better understood. As the pick I2, being the last pick of vthe inactive Shuttle,

advances with the woven cloth, the free end thereof, being indicated at 38 and 30', will pass beneath the thread directing edge 42 of the body member 36. 4As the advance of pick I2 continues, the thread 30 will engage edge 42 and be drawn downwardly along the edge to the apex 48. In

Areaching this point it willy of necessity pass through the narrow opening or space 51, see Fig. 10, between the said thread directing edge 42 and the free end 56 of the cutting element 48 to be caught thereunder, as indicated in Fig. 4.

" There after, as-the lay moves back and forth carrying the inactive shuttle with it and causing 1 threadV 38 to swing from its forward position to its rearward position at 30', such movement will not induce the thread to escape from its trapped position at the apex 48 under the free end 56 ofthe cutting element. This trapped condition will prevail regardless Yof the position of the intion and lays its first pick 58.

active shuttle.

In due course, the cloth advances to the position of Fig. 5 and in accord with the pattern the inactive shuttle now comes back into opera.-

In so doing, Vit leaves behind it a selvage loop 60, the forward end of which extends from pick I2 along the selvage over, the 'reverse1y turnededge 50 of extension 38v and under the endk 56 lof cutting ele.- ment 4D. At this point theloop 68 will be under that part of the cutting element 44 at which is located the cutting edge 54. In this way, kthe Vloop formed when the inactive shuttle goesback intovaction, is positively caught under cutting element 48.

Weaving then continues as indicated in Fig. 6 so that pick 58 has advancedA to a position beyond cutting element 48 land in sodoing the loop is tightened against cutting edge 54. Thereafter as soon as the cloth has advanced a sufcient additional distance, the'tension on the loop as applied Aby cutting edge 54 will be sufficient to Isever the loop into two portions, one being a relatively short portion which isthe end extending from pick 58, and the other being a relatively long portion which is the end extendingfrom pick l2.

The loop Icutter of the present invention will function to cut any loop formed in connection with an advance of the cloth sufficient to cause the thread from the inactive shuttle to be drawn down along the thread directing edge'42 to pass by and under the free end 56 of the cutting element.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that there is positive means in the form of the thread directing edge which causes the thread of the inactive shuttle tomove tov aA position at the apex 48 as soon as Vthe cloth has advanced through the temple an adequate distance. In arriving at the said apex, the thread must pass through the narrow opening 51 separating the face of the body member from the free end 56 of the cutting element. Thereafter, due to the nature of the movement of the thread 38 as the lay moves back and forth, I have found that the thread will not escape from its trapped position under the cutting element. Accordingly, the cutting element is able tofunction any time thereafter to cut the loop subsequently formed when the inactive shuttle goes back in operation.

I t is my intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure which de not constitutedepartures ffrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A selvage loop cutter designed to be aixed to the front of a temple comprising a body member in the form of a vertical plate having a downwardly facing thread directing edge sloping downwardly and outwardly and terminating in a reversely turned edge, which edges at their junction together' form an apex, a cutting element xed with respect to said body with a free portion extending substantially horizontally outwardly to a point beyond said apex and crossing said thread directing edge and spaced closely therefrom, the distance between said element and thread directing edge being at a minimum at a position near the lower limit of said directing edge, said cutting element being spaced from said reversely turned edge, whereby the thread of a shuttle out of action may be guided downwardly along said directing edge to reach said apex and in so doing pass below the end of said cutting element.

2. A selvage loop cutter comprising a unit including a body member and an extension therefrom together forming a V-shaped opening in said unit, the said opening when said unit is fixed to the front of a temple being adapted to straddle the selvage of cloth in a loom close to the point of weaving, said body member having a downwardly facing and sloping edge forming one side of said V, a cutter bar attached to the said extension at a position remote from the apex of said V-shaped opening and having its free end extending in a direction to cross the said downwardly facing edge of said body member in close proximity thereto, said cutter bar being spaced from said extension whereby a thread having passed between said sloping edge and cutter bar may thereafter move to a position between said cutter bar and extension and away from said apex.

3. A selvage loop cutter designed to be affixed to the front of a temple comprising a vertical plate body member having a downwardly outwardly sloping under edge, an extension extending inwardly from the lower outer part of said body, the upper edge of said extension meeting said under edgeto form an apex, a cutting element attached to said extension having a free portion extending horizontally outwardly and Crossing said lower edge in close proximity thereto and spaced from said upper edge of said extension, the end of said cutting element terminating above and beyond said apex. i

4. In combination, in a loom of the type having a plurality of shuttle boxes on one side of said loom, a temple, a selvage loop cutter mounted on the face of said temple, said loop cutter comprising a body having a downwardly facing thread directing edge sloping downwardly and outwardly and crossing over the selvage of the cloth being Woven in said loom and terminating in a thread controlling apex below said cloth, an extension of said body extending laterally inwardly below said cloth, a cutting element attached to said extension below said cloth and having a free portion extending horizontally outwardly beyond said cloth to cross 'in front of said thread directing edge in close proximity thereto, the end of said element being above and beyond said apex, whereby the thread from an out-of-action shuttle will be directed to said apex to pass by and to a position under said cutting element as said cloth advances through said temple and whereby upon said out-of-action shuttle coming back into action, said thread will form a selvage loop passing under said cutting element, said cutting element acting upon a suicient further advance of said cloth to sever said loop.

HENRY E. LITTLEJOHN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,717,649 Bausinger June 18, 1929 

